Display fixture



H.` J. RUBENSTEIN DISPLAY FIXTURE Filed o ojc. 25. 195o United States Patent O DISPLAY FIXTURE Harry J. Rubenstein, Kansas City, Mo.

Application October 25, 1950, Serial No. 192,041

3 Claims. (Cl. 211-106) This invention relates to card holding racks in the nature of a display fixture formed of wire and having as a part thereof, a specially created unit that is mounted upon a supporting body in such fashion as to present an att-ractive, efficient, strong and desirable structure, and capa-ble of displaying cards and the like in an attractive manner in full view of potential customers.

lOne of the important objects of this invention is t-o provide a display fixture for postcards, pamphlets and -similar articles, which fixture comprises a plurality of card holding units all carried by a body in a manner as to dispose the cards in planes rendering the outermost card fully accessible to view, yet easy to remove from the units while stored in compact, overlapping relation.

Another important aim of this invention is to improve upon the display fixture disclosed in my U. S. Letters Patent No. 2,167,375 and dated July 25, 1939, while maintaining all the advantages and desirable features thereof.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of a wire display fixture for postcards and the like formed to make the filling of the units thereof simple and easy and to force the cards to assume a desired inclined position automatically, not only during initial loading but duing progressive removal of the cards by the purchasing pu lic.

Other objects of the invention will appear during the course of the following specification, referring to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is an edge elevation of a display fixture made to embody one form of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a front side elevational view of the said form of display fixture.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view through the fixture taken on line II-I-III of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 4 is an edge elevational view of a display fixture made to embody a modified form of the invention.

The preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, comprises a body made of relatively heavy wire and having a support including a pair of substantially parallel, spaced apart standards 6 that may be engaged by hooks .or the like 8, when it is desired to mount the fixture upon a wall or other permanent base, as illustrated in Fig. 1. To those skilled in the art, it is obvious that the -body may be carried by any other type pedestal or support and that any number of fixtures as illustrated, may be assembled to create a card rack having a desired capacity.

Standards 6 of the body carry a plurality of card holding units 9, all created of strong, yet relatively light wire and uniquely formed to receive a plurality of cards 10 in overlapping, inclined relation, as shown in Fig. 1.

In the manufacture of fixtures of this character, it is desirable to pass the entire fixture through the welding machine without the necessity of twisting or turning and the units that are mounted upon standards 6 are made so that they not only form rigid tie elements extending between standards 6 but have the ends of the continuous length of wire directly over the standards so that butt welding or otherwise securing together the ends is not a necessary step in the manufacture.

Each of these card holding units includes a U-shaped member 11 which sets oi a stall for the reception of the marginal edges of cards 10 at the ends thereof. These members 11 extend outwardly in opposed relation from 2,698,690 Patented Jan. 4, 1955 the remote sides of standards 6 and are each composed of a bight'12 and a pair of legs 13 and 15, the end of each leg 13 being welded as at 14 directly to the proximal standard 6.

A downwardly and outwardly inclined stretch 16 extends from the end of each leg 15 and between the corresponding bight 12 and the proximal standard 6. The lower end of stretch 16 is turned inwardly toward standards 6 to form a support arm 20. It is upon these inturned portions or arms 20 that cards 10 rest when they are in the normal position.

A U-shaped element 17 has the bight 18 thereof in bridging relationship to standards 6 and its down-turned legs 22,'23 joined with proximal ends of corresponding arms 20.

The lowermost edge of the outermost card 10 lies against stretches 16 of the card holding unit adjacent legs 20, and the uppermost edge of the innermost card 10 lies against standards 6 above U-shaped members 11. Longitudinal displacement in the plane of the cards 10 is precluded by the bights 12; thus, a card 10 may be removed from the stack within any one of the several units by merely swinging the outermost card outwardly and upwardly.

The bight 18 lies upon standards 6 on the same side thereof as the ends of the continuous length of wire from which the unit 9 is formed, and therefore, welding may take place with dispatch and without turning or otherwise manipulating the entire fixture, if the points of weld were not in alignment and on the same plane.

It is noted that the card holding units 9 hereof are each formed to force the cards 10 to assume the angularity shown in Fig.' l, as distinguished from the disclosure of my aforesaid patent. To accomplish this desired result, the bights 12 have been made parallel with and of substantially the same lengths as the arms 20 that support cards 10, and each of these four members is inclined upwardly as the standards 6 are approached. Additionally, each of the stretches 16 is inclined outwardly as arms 20 are approached, the lowermost ends of stretches, therefore, being spaced an appreciably greater distance from standards 6 than the uppermost ends thereof.

The bight 18 is disposed substantially midway between the legs 13 and a horizontal plane through the lowermost ends of stretches 16 in parallelism with the legs 13 and 1S, and both of the legs 22 and 23 are substantially parallel with the standards 6. Arms 20 are parallel with each other as are the bights 12.

The innermost ends of arms 20 terminate, therefore, in spaced relationship to a vertical plane through standards 6 and the legs 22 and 23 are inclined outwardly from said pl-ane as the point of joinder thereof with corresponding arms 20, is approached.

As cards 10 are placed in the units, bight 18 is sufficiently high to prevent interference and as the lowermost edges of cards 10 strike arms 20, cards 10 will be deflected downwardly and forwardly toward arms 20. These edges of cards 10 will then slide freely along arms 20 toward stretches 16, maintaining all of cards 10 inclined toward standards 6 where the outermost card 10 can be easily seen and read by prospective purchasers. When the outermost card 10 is removed, the lowermost edge of all cards in a unit 9 can easily be caused to slide upwardly along arms 20 until the card to be removed clears the unit 9 next above. The remaining cards will thereupon automatically slide back to the normal position shown in Fig. l.

yIn the modified form of the invention, shown in Fig. 4, there are provided units broadly designated by the numeral for receiving cards 102 that are identical with units 9 above described and shown in Figs. l to 3 inclusive. A pair of standards is provided for supporting units 100, one only of which is shown in Fig. 4 and designated by the numeral 104. Each standard has an inclined length 106 for each unit 100 respectively, the length 106 being in offset, parallel relationship and joined by short integral portions 108 that inclined downwardly in the opposite direction from the inclination of lengths 106.

The inclination of stretches 106 is the same as that of legs 110 of units 100, said legs 110 corresponding to legs 22 and 23 of the form rst described herein. 1t is seen that the cards 102 may be still more easily removed from units 100 than from the units 9 of Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive and that each unit 100 will accommodate a larger number of cards 102 without consuming additional space.

While devices embodying this invention might be made to present physical characteristics other than those illustrated, it is desired to be limited only by the spirit of ythe invention and scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A display fixture comprising a support; and a cardholdng unit including a pair of spaced, U-shaped members, each having a downwardly and forwardly inclined bight, a long horizontal leg secured to the support, and a short horizon-tal leg in spaced parallelism with the llong leg and provided with a downwardly and forwardly inclined stretch, a U-shaped element having a horizontal bight secured to the support below the long legs in spaced parallelism therewith and provided with a pair of spaced, downwardly and forwardly inclined, parallel legs in spaced parallelism with said stretches, and a downward-ly and forwardly inclined arm, parallel with the bights of said members, interconnecting each leg of said element with a corresponding stretch.

2. A display fixture as set forth in claim 1 wherein said support includes a standard for each of said long legs respectively, each standard having a downwardly and for- -wardly inclined length parallel with the legs of said element and with said stretches, said long legs and the bight of said element being secured to said lengths.

3. A display fixture comprising a support; and a cardholding unit composed entirely of an initially straight, single length of wire and including a pair of spaced, U-shaped members, each having a downwardly and forwardly inclined bight, a long horizontal leg secured to the support, and a short horizontal leg in spaced parallelism with the long leg and provided with a downwardly and forwardly inclined stretch, a U-shaped element having a horizontal bight secured to the support below the long legs in spaced parallelism therewith and provided with a pair of spaced, downwardly and forwardly inclined, parallel legs in spaced parallelism with said stretches, and a downwardly and forwardly inclined arm, parallel with the bights of said members, interconnecting each leg of said element with a corresponding stretch, said stretches being parallel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 887,972 `Sloan May 19, 1908 909,497 Williams Jan. 12, 1909 917,170 Short Apr. 6, 1909 1,713,185 Laughton May 14, 1929 1,715,078 Whyte et al May 28, 1929 1,970,868 Rubenstein Aug. 2l, 1934 2,167,375 Rubenstein July 25, 1939 2,221,659 Wilkie Nov. 12, 1940 2,317,867 Taylor et al Apr. 27, 1943 2,460,906 Schmiedeberg Feb. 8, 1949 2,560,896 Rubenstein July 17, 1951 

